4 
SEE©-TISiE AH® HARVEST. 
ness of plumage, and large size, is the most 
popular. It is not uncommon for a gobbler 
of this variety to reach the weight of forty 
pounds. Their large size and brilliant 
plumage are due to the wild turkey, with 
which thev have been crossed. By close 
breeding for several years they will dimin¬ 
ish in size, and their plumage grow paler. 
For this reason many breeders have recourse 
to wild stock for breeding males every two 
or three years'. 
Raising' Chickens on the Farm. 
BY JOHN W. CAUGHEY. 
Last year I tried an experiment with 
raising chickens and the results were so sat¬ 
isfactory that we adopted the same course 
this year. Chickens on a farm are by many 
ignorant farmers condemned, for the reason 
that they destroy more than they are worth; 
but I think, and, in fact know, that chick¬ 
ens can be raised at a good profit even on 
a farm. 
Last spring my first brood of chickens 
came off about the last week in April, I 
took them away from the hen, setting them 
in a small, dry pen flitted up with an old 
blanket under which they might go when 
they wanted covering. I made a small 
yard for them where they might run in 
the warm, dry weather, with a spot of green 
grass and also spaded up a place for them 
to wallow in. They grew and seemed to 
flourish as well as if under the hen. In a 
week I made an addition to my flock by 
putting in another brood, for the older ones 
would serve to keep the younger ones warm 
on cold nights. I had fifty five chickens, 
all the way from one day to six weeks old. 
They were kept confined until the young¬ 
est chicks were two weeks old, when I gave 
them their liberty. They never strayed 
away from their pen but a short distance, 
always to be seen about the farmyard or 
near their pens and just as happy as if with 
a hen. I never fed them except in their 
yard and when they were hungry there is 
where you found them. At night or dur¬ 
ing a shower they would always be found 
in their pens, thereby saving all trouble 
of hunting all over the farm after them. 
Not having a mother to lead them off into 
the grain fields or gardens, they did not 
tread down the grain or destroy any veg¬ 
etables. Neither did they get drabbled in 
the wet grass by following a hen on her 
morning rounds. Nor did they get far 
enough away from the trees and buildings 
to be caught by hawks or prowling foxes, 
or skunks, as some of them certainly would 
have been with a hen. We did not lose a 
chicken by the hawks last summer. Whole 
number lost was seven, which died—as 
chickens always will—from no assignable 
cause, leaving forty-eight sound chickens 
for market or home consumption. The 
cost of feeding has been but slight, the 
bother has been scarcely anything, the 
time spent has been a source of real pleas¬ 
ure, the crops destroyed by them were 
none, the six hens, which, if allowed to go 
with the chicks, would have been of no 
profit, had laid a number of dozen of eggs, 
and the chicks were larger and in better 
condition than if they had followed the 
hens. I think this is the best way to raise 
chickens on the farm, and, at no distant 
day, more will be raised in this way than 
any other. If there are better ways I 
should like to be enlightened. 
The Poultry Calling. 
There is no business in the world which 
combines pleasure with profit to so great 
an extent as a successful poultry business; 
and the person who makes a success of it is 
not the one who gets discouraged the first 
season because his eggs do not hatch well, 
or disease gets into his growing flock and 
perhaps carries off three fourths of it. Nor 
is he the one who thinks fowls do not need 
much care—simply a place to roost in, an 
occasional feed, and left principally to take 
care of themselves. To succeed in the 
poultry business requires experience, cour¬ 
age, industry and determination. 
Poultry Notes. 
Farmers should save the droppings from 
their chicken roosts; it is one of the most 
valuable fertilizers on the farm. To save 
it properly sand or ashes should be sprinkled 
on the floor, or ground under the roots, and 
